La Madeleine of Paris

La Madeleine looks immense with its 52 Corinthian columns surrounding the temple church. The twenty meter high columns give this neoclassical church the appearance of a Greek temple.

After 1815, the restored Bourbon monarchy confirmed the building should become a church, dedicated to Mary Magdalene as an apology to God for the deaths of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. These efforts were stalled and in 1837 the building was briefly considered for use as Paris's first railway terminal. The "Madeleine" was finally consecrated in 1842 during the reign of Louis-Philippe.

The columns at the front are worth close inspection as they are crowned with a sculpted frieze. Also study the the bronze doors created by sculptor Triqueti as you enter the church as they contain representations of the Ten Commandments.

Inside La Madeleine you'll discover a large statue that depicts the ascension of Mary Madeleine (you should find it behind the altar). The Last Judgment" on the south pediment is by Lemaire.

Beneath a headless statue of St. Luke on the north side of the church, an inscription reads "On May 30, 1948, a German shell struck the church of the Madeleine and decapitated this statue.

Click here to see other pictures.

Click here to see other pictures.

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson lived in Paris from August 1784 to September 1789: five years that were arguably the most memorable of his life. Paris—with its music, its architecture, its savants and salons, its learning and enlightenment, not to mention its elegant social life…had worked its enchantments on this rigidly self-controlled Virginia gentleman, and had stimulated him to say and do and write remarkable things.

Jefferson was sent to Paris by Congress to join American Ministers Plenipotentiary Benjamin Franklin and John Adams. When Franklin returned to America in 1785, Jefferson succeeded him.

From his youth, Jefferson dreamed of taking the Grand Tour of Europe, but it wasn’t until the forty-one year old widower received a diplomatic appointment to Paris in 1784 that the dream became a reality. Early in his life Jefferson learned to admire European culture through books, as Peter Jefferson had insisted that his son have a classical education.

His enthusiasm for being in Paris is seen in a letter he wrote to Charles Bellini, September 30, 1785: "Behold me at length on the vaunted scene of Europe!...You are perhaps, curious to know how this new scene has struck a savage of the mountains of America...Were I to proceed to tell you how much I enjoy their architecture, sculpture, painting, music, I should want words. It is in these arts they shine."

In Paris, Jefferson was introduced to the leading artists of the day. He met Jacques Louis David and posed for Jean Antoine Houdon "for a portrait bust that was later exhibited in the Salon of 1789." He attended the 1789 exhibit at the Salon Carrée in the Louvre with Gouverneur Morris, and they saw works by Hubert Robert, David and Madame Vigée Le Brun. Copies of the European Masters that Jefferson purchased at auctions and at indebted estates hung on the walls of his elegant Parisian house, the Hôtel d’Langeac.

Jefferson wrote about engineering feats that he saw in Paris: "He marveled at the hydraulic pumping system that provided the water for the royal gardens and called attention to the quiet magnificence of Parisian bridges…On his tours…his pen was kept busy recording his rapid-fire observations—on soil, on crops and livestock, on roads, and canals, and on local customs.

Jefferson especially enjoyed visiting the book stores of Paris: "While residing in Paris, I devoted every afternoon I was disengaged, for a summer or two, in examining all the principal bookstores, turning over every book with my own hand, and putting by everything which related to America, and indeed whatever was rare and valuable in every science.

When he arrived back in America he would eventually have 86 packing crates shipped to him from Paris.

 Click here to see other pictures.

Click here to see other pictures.